For a second, consecutive year Allie Ostrander of Boise State University has been named the Mountain West Female Athlete of the Year.
Press release courtesy of Boise State Athletics
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – After winning back-to-back national titles in the 3,000m steeplechase, Boise State’s Allie Ostrander was named the Mountain West Female Athlete of the Year for the second-straight year, the conference office announced Wednesday.
The redshirt sophomore becomes only the second Mountain West athlete, male or female, to be named conference Athlete of the Year in back-to-back years, joining former Bronco Emma Bates (2013-14 and 2014-15). Boise State is the only school to have an athlete claim the honor multiple times since the award’s inception in 2009-10.
The Broncos have now claimed five Mountain West Athlete of the Year honors – the most by any school – with Ostrander and Bates being joined by Kurt Felix on the men’s side in 2011-12. The four female honorees are also the most by any Mountain West school.
“We’re so proud of everything Allie has accomplished,” Director of Athletics Curt Apsey said. “She does everything you’d want from a student-athlete, both academically and athletically, and she is an excellent representative for Boise State.”
Competing in cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field, Ostrander claimed five first-team All-America honors, making her one of only six athletes nation-wide to earn five or more honors across all three sports.
“It’s a great honor for Allie, and we’re excited for her to be recognized as the best athlete in the Mountain West,” Boise State track and field head coach Corey Ihmels said. “Her success this year shows her effort to stay healthy and compete at a really high level for all three seasons. It’s not something that is easily done, and she works really hard to get to the highest level in all three disciplines. She continues to raise the bar for the cross country and track and field programs.”
In the fall, Ostrander led Boise State to its highest finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, with the Broncos finishing sixth as a team. Ostrander finished fourth individually with a time of 19:31.2 over 6-kilometers, while also being named the NCAA Elite 90 Award winner – given to the athlete with the highest GPA at all 90 NCAA Championship sites.
She followed that performance with an exceptional indoor season, despite racing in only three meets. In her first season of indoor track and field since 2015-16, Ostrander would earn two All-America honors – in the distance medley relay and 3,000m.
Running the 1,600m leg of Boise State’s distance medley relay, Ostrander helped lead Boise State to a fifth-place finish in a school-record time of 10:58.93. This was the first time Boise State qualified a distance medley relay to a national championship, and the first time the Broncos have qualified any relay to a national championship since 1975. Individually, she finished second at the national championship in the 3,000m in a time of 9:54.35 – just shy of the Mountain West record she set as a freshman.
Entering the outdoor season with the pressure of being a defending national champion, Ostrander met those lofty expectations, becoming just the second woman in NCAA history to win back-to-back steeplechase titles.
Ostrander convincingly dismantled the rest of the field, taking the lead in the early stages of the race and never letting up. Her time of 9:39.28 was more than six seconds ahead of second place, as she became the first underclassman to win back-to-back steeplechase titles.
The feat made her only the second back-to-back national champion in Boise State history, joining recent Boise State Hall of Fame inductee Gabriel Wallin, who won the javelin in 2004 and 2005.
Eighty minutes after repeating as the steeplechase champion, Ostrander was back on the track in the final of the 5,000m, where she took eighth in 15:46.50 for her fifth first-team All-America honor of the season.
Ostrander’s efforts during the outdoor season earned her Mountain West Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Student-Athlete of the Year honors, as voted on by the league’s coaches – making her the first women’s athlete in conference history to win the award in back-to-back years.
The Kenai, Alaska, native also continued her academic success, becoming the first Bronco to make the Google Cloud Academic All-America First Team in the sport of cross country and track and field.
